off the clock

Here be the place, ye peer mentor mateys. Harbor yer ships (a piratey word for "thoughts") in this lagoon, where ye ken share experiences, funny stories, ideas, or good news. Arr, it also be a good place to post funny quotes ye hear in the office. Bon voyage!

Monday, May 6, 2013

I stopped in the FM office two weeks ago and talked with Sharon and was amazed to realize that it's been two years since I worked there. I feel like I just stopped. I'm glad to know that the mentoring program is in good hands, but it's weird to not be part of it anymore.

What's everyone up to?

I'm teaching. I've taught fifth grade for two years in Payson. I'll be switching to third grade next year--fun! Also, I'll be going to Washington D.C. while my husband completes an internship there with the Washington Seminar program. Then he'll graduate and in a year who knows where I'll be? Hopefully somewhere that involves my husband in grad school.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

I'm not sure anyone looks at this anymore- so sad! But since it's been almost 8 months since this was last updated, I thought I'd say hello. Now we can see how long it takes for someone to notice this has been updated. :)

I hope you're all doing well and enjoying your time in the awesome office! (I heard there was construction- pictures?!)

As an update: School is good. Kris (Kelly/Cutler) goes to church in my same building, so I've met her adorable little baby girl! Annie E. is in the other singles' ward- she is getting married in December! And Patrick Turley is in my ward.

Now you all who actually still work at FA/FM should start updating this. It's fun!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

At your request, dear reader, I am posting the funny high school metaphors that were emailed around the office the other day.

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli, and he was room temperature Canadian beef.

5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.

8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife’s infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.

11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in anothercity and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30

12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s teeth.

16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.

18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.

25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

So for everyone else who has no idea what I'm talking about...there was a mysterious and wonderful occurrence on Thursday. Jason, Jamie, Mollie and I matched. It was a wonderful day...and rather slow where office responsibilities were concerned...so we took a picture. Hopefully it shows up soon... :)

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

I am trying to start a project that links FA to my true love, YA lit (young adult literature, that is). I'm curious to find out how literature affects teenagers as they prepare for college. I want to ask students what books they read in high school that they viewed as significant. This, of course, also lends insight into how they define "significance." I want to pose the same question to y'all here:

What books did you read in high school? Which of those books did you find significant? Why were they significant?

Feel free to respond in the form of a comment to this post or a post itself. I will start:

I kept a long list of books I read in high school, and they ranged from children's chapter books to Stephen Hawking's The Universe in a Nutshell. I read books that were on BBC's list of the 100 best books of all time, and I also exhausted the local library's young adult collection. The ones that I found the most significant were the tragic ones where characters suffered and/or died. I also read a lot of "escapist literature," though I really hate that term, about princesses and imaginary kingdoms. I remember specific titles well, because I frequently return to these books: The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, For Freedom by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley, The Immortals series by Tamora Pierce, among others. They were significant to me because I longed to relate to such people. I wanted to be like the noble women who made a difference in their worlds, or the French spy who sacrificed herself for freedom during World War II, or the little boy who learned about life despite or because of the death of his dogs. Also important to me were a few of the books that I read as required reading. Most of my classmates loathed these books, but I thought they were gems and thanked my teachers profusely for introducing me to them (Anthem by Ayn Rand, The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, Shakespeare's King Henry IV, etc, etc). I loved finding the symbols in these books and connecting them to things I recognized in life. I discovered that my conflicts, however small, related well to the conflicts in literature. I was not at war, but I had tough classes that I felt were like battles. I was not being forcefully stripped of my identity, but I was trying to identify myself as unique among cookie-cutters. These books helped me see options for solutions and gave me the hope, the confidence, that I can do hard things.

Anyway, I hope this gives you an idea of what we're looking for. Have a go at it! You know how much FA loves reflections...